Malidoma Some
Malidoma Some, as representative of his village in Burkina Faso, West Africa, and an initiated elder, has come to the west to share the ancient wisdom and practices which have supported his people for thousands of years.
Everyone's path is different and along my journey I came across several books that hit me at the right time. They spoke in a way so I could hear a key message at that time and on the subjects that I needed to learn more about. There's many great books out there, and I've read many more than are on this list. This is NOT a list the 7 best books I've read, but the ones that caused me to shift with the learnings and lessons they brought me.
The basic criteria I used in making up the list is by answering the question, "Who are the most influential people in shamanism in the world today?" By influential I mean, they reach many people and share their knowledge in a way that people are able to absorb the information and use it in their lives. The list was pretty straight forward to put together and I'm hoping to add to it over time.
"I understand evil as the energy that counter-acts the simplest, positive, life-giving thoughts that rule our lives - the thoughts of loving and of being loved, the thoughts of contributing something to this world. Whenever these thoughts are stopped or dispersed by circumstantial events, I am suspicious about the presence of the evil behind this, because the greatest harm that can be done to a human being is the elimination of a person’s potential and converting that person into a robotic entity."
"Grandfather used to call the rain 'the erotic ritual between heaven and Earth.' The rain represented the seeds sown in the Earth’s womb by heaven, her roaring husband, to further life. Rainy encounters between heaven and Earth were sexual love on a cosmic scale. All of nature became involved. Clouds, heaven’s body, were titillated by the storm. In turn, heaven caressed the Earth with heavy winds, which rushed toward their erotic climax, the tornado. The grasses that pop out of the Earth’s warm center shortly after the rain are called the numberless children of Earth who will serve humankind’s need for nourishment. The rainy season is the season of life. Yes, it had rained the night before."
"We do not always allow oursleves to work through pain. More often than not we think pain is a sign we must stop, rather than find its source. Our souls do not like stagnation. Our souls aspire toward growth, that is, toward remembering all that we have forgotten due to our trip to this place, the earth."
